Billy Gallagher

I fancied a bird in Macroom (Cork) just after this, not the most convenient place as I was working in Donegal.  She was eldest of a large family (7), both parents dead, the family being looked after by “Aunt Agnes” from Cork.  Aunt Agnes was from the Old School.  She took her responsibilities seriously and sat between Mary and me always, even at 3 in the morning.  I often wonder why she bothered as it was a well known fact that if you touched anything that “didn’t belong to you” you went straight to Hell (if you died of course).  It was 327 miles from Strabane to Macroom, serious work in a Ford Cortina.  It wasn’t possible to pursue this relationship on purely inaccessibility grounds.

Fr Feargal O’Connor who used spend regular evenings in the flat was always raising in-depth discussion.  His speciality was relationships and he often boasted that he had more girl friends than any man alive.  This was true and he was a profoundly good influence on everyone.  He said one night that we should discuss sex with any girl we took out on the first night.  What he meant was communication but I being naïve thought he meant literally what he said.

On the first date with Mary Murphy we went for a walk in the country (to get away from Aunt Agnes) and as an opening gesture I said to Mary “Feargal O’Connor says you should talk about sex on your first date”.  That killed the conversation dead.  In fact neither of us had any idea what he was talking about, we knew nothing about sex anyway.

I moved out of the uncle’s house in September 1962 and into a flat with four pals, all studying in UCD.  This flat existed with all of us coming and going until 1972 at various addresses mostly in Rathmines.  Although my formal education stopped at the Leaving Cert the flat environment, all the pals at UCD, contacts constantly visiting, this was a wonderful learning environment.  In all, 41 people lived in these flats over 13 the years that I was there.  (It continued to exist for a few years after I left.) My education came from these two environments:  The Boys’ Club (social and community awareness) and the flat (integrated and tolerant life).

Living in the flat in Dublin, usually 4 or 5 of us was the University of my Life.  All the others were at UCD or law school and a constant flow of students and intellectuals passed through.  Fr Feargal O’Connor taught in UCD then, Ethics and Politics.  Maurice Manning taught in same department as did Philip Pettit (Philosophy) both of whom lived in the flat while studying for their masters’ degrees.  The flats were mostly in Rathmines and the population evolved naturally.  As someone would leave to work or study there was always a replacement around the corner.  This living experience was the greatest advantage I got in life, it was intellectual and educational, we learned tolerance and compromise, it was healthy living and ideal for formation of young people setting out for middle class Ireland.  The main lesson for me was the advantage and necessity of getting out of home and surviving.  This lesson I have passed on to all my children.